On this icon, the whole Gospel
message of the incarnation of our Saviour from the Virgin Mary is depicted,
along with other details added from the holy Tradition. On many icons of the
Nativity, there are a multitude of details, on other less. On the diagram
shown here, taken from a drawing for
an icon, we can identify at least 8 major elements.

(1)
The focus of the icon, of course, is on the birth of our Lord from His most
pure virgin mother Mary; She is shown larger than any of the other figures,
reclining on a mat, and looking not at her new-born Son, but rather with
love and compassion towards her spouse, St Joseph the Betrothed (7), seeing his affliction and bewilderment over this most
strange and divine birth;. He is shown in the left bottom corner, conversing
with Satan, disguised as an old shepherd. The posture of St Joseph is one of
doubt and inner trouble, for he wondered if it might be possible that the
conception and birth were not by some secret human union; how blessed he was
to serve the Mother of God and her divine Son, in spite of these thoughts
and temptations, and to protect her from the evil gossip of the people who
could not yet possibly understand so great a mystery. Our Lord is shown in
swaddling clothes and lying in a manger, “for there was no room for them in
the inn.” (cf. Luke 2) The back-drop for the manger is a dark cave
(3), which immediately reminds us of the cave in
which our Lord was buried 33 years later, wrapped in a shroud. In the cave
are an ox and donkey, details not mentioned by the Gospels, but which are an
invariable feature of every icon of the Nativity; the scene is included to
show the fulfillment of the words of the prophet Isaiah, “the ox knows his
Owner, and the donkey his Master's crib, but Israel does not know Me, and
the people has not regarded Me” (Isaiah 1:3). (2)
Above this central composition, in the very center of the icon is the
wondrous star coming from heaven, which led the magi (6)
to the place where our Saviour lay; It reminds us of the heavenly orb we see
on icons of the Theophany, or Pentecost, wherever divine intervention is
indicated. The holy angels (4)are seen both
glorifying God and bringing the good tidings of the Lord's birth to the
shepherds (5). The fact that Jewish shepherds and
heathen magi were among the first to worship our Lord shows us the
universality of this great event, meant for the salvation of all mankind.

The final detail of this icon,
the scene of the washing of the Lord (8) is an
element that has caused some controversy over the ages. In some churches of
the holy monasteries of Mount Athos, the scene in the
frescoes has been deliberately obliterated and replaced with bushes or
shepherds; there was a prevailing opinion that this scene was degrading to
Christ, who had no need of washing, being born in a miraculous manner from a
pure virgin. But we retain this image on our icons, being part of the holy
tradition passed on to us; truly it does not degrade the Lord, but magnifies
Him, as is evident in the prayer that is appointed to be read at the time of
Baptism for the midwife of a child: “O Master, Lord our God...Who laid in a
manger and blessed the midwife Salome* who came to believe in an honourable
virginity...” Who, more effectively than a midwife, could testify to the
divine and virginal birth? Therefore we do well to understand the importance
of this blessed scene.

Finally, as we look at the
icon as one united composition, we can only be filled with joy, not only
because of the bright colors and the festive activity depicted thereon, but
for the joyous news of our salvation so clearly proclaimed by it. In it, all
creation is rejoicing at the birth of our Lord: the heavens (a star and
angels); the earth (the mountains, plants and animals}; and especially
mankind, represented most perfectly in the figure of the new Eve, the most
pure Mother of God.